The Curious Science of Bodily Functions
The Science of Sneezing Wikimedia CommonsA new book explores why our bodies do the things they do In Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond, which published last week, Robert Provine, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, sets out to answer some of biology's burning questions: Why are yawns contagious? Why do we cry tears? Why does light make (some of) us sneeze? And my personal favorite: Why don't we talk out of our butts? Click here to enter the gallery "My book is a catalogue of human mysteries, solved and unsolved," Provine says. "Most such human acts have been mysteries since antiquity, and remain so. Scientists neglect the commonplace." The book aims to change this by bringing little-known experiments about everyday acts like itching and farting into the light of day. Click through to the gallery to find out how -- and why -- our...